Say no to food waste in grocery stores. Feed Guelph's hungry!

One councillor, one vision, one petition: that's all it took to engage the parliamentarians and citizens of Paris, France to take action to end hunger. Now, throughout France, it is illegal to dispose of food that is suitable for human consumption. Grocery stores and restaurants work with community partners to see that food is NOT wasted. It is, instead, distributed to food banks and groups that feed the needy.

'In developed countries, like Canada, more than 40% of food losses occur at retail and consumer levels. About 222 million tonnes of food are wasted per year at the consumer level in developed countries—that's almost as much as the total net food production in sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tonnes per year).'

Guelph has the volunteer base, an innovative and progressive population, and the capacity to make a dent in hunger within our borders. Many groups are already working diligently to share resources without municipal governance at the retail level: food is being wasted and people are going hungry.

All we need are signatures and a council willing to address this issue to ensure that we are feeding our own citizens. Food banks, church groups, shelters, kitchens: we have the foundations in place.

We, the undersigned, ask Guelph City Council to strike a committee of councillors, staff, and community volunteers to:

a) begin the process of developing rules or bylaws for grocery stores and restaurants about sharing and distributing food that would otherwise be wasted

b) develop bylaws against intentional damaging or spoiling of food that could be donated

c) develop a business plan for food delivery to community groups and organizations

The highly successful and innovative initiative in Paris, France, was started by Arash Derambarsh, a municipal councillor in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie.

'Today, he is taking his campaign global, urging the European Union and countries like the United States to follow suite. "This is a long road, but we are going to end up being more human," he says.'